Real World Advantage of i7 Over i5, i5 Over i3

I need to replace my i3 motherboard to upgrade video resolution. I'm now stuck on deciding whether it's worth it to go to i5 for faster OV3 and LR processing speeds plus faster transfer from one HD to another, or whether I would get a meaningful increase by choosing i7 over i5.
I'm keeping my power supply, case, HDs and other peripherals. I'm going to stick with Win 7 64 bit.
Your thoughts?

First, you might find adding a low end video card to be easier and more economical than replacing the whole main board.

As for your question, real world depends on how hard you push your system now. At 100% load the i5 can be nearly twice as fast due to double the cores. I7 can be up to 50% faster with the right load, but can be 0% faster with the wrong one.

Thanks for the information. IT issues are not my strong suit.
I'm finding my i3 system slower than I'd like for a lot of odds and ends. OV3 rendering of changes I make with raw files is horribly slow, but that's well known on most systems. My file transfers when backing up from one HD to another, or to a thumb drive have also taken a longer time than I'd like, especially when I'm trying to get out the door to a meeting. The i3 board is 5-1/2 years old. It hasn't given me any problems but may be considered old enough that it should be replaced by some hardware techs. The PC is running all day and evening, almost every day.
A new video card would also mean having to replace the power supply with something larger. This is what got me wondering about simply upgrading to i5 to get a faster processor and the increased resolution I'm looking for at the same time while I was at it. The price difference is about $270 CDN - not peanuts, but it's not big money when you consider what we pay for lenses and camera bodies every few years!

Better question, what gen i3 do you have? Maybe just replace the CPU. add a GPU and more RAM.

For most users a higher clock CPU with more RAM will give a better result than an i7. But it really comes down to applications and how you use them. I don't do video or 3D stuff. But I do run multiple LR exports (500-1000 images at a time for events) and batch process in CS. So I can see all my 4 cores / 8 threads and a good chuck of my 32gb in use when I do. But it makes little difference in day to day stuff.

Better question, what gen i3 do you have? Maybe just replace the CPU. add a GPU and more RAM.

Click to expand...

The processor is a 1st gen i3 - Clarkdale LAG1156. I can't plug in a 2nd gen processor. My system is old enough that I have to replace some of the big items if I want a performance increase. All I wanted to begin with was more native resolution (sigh). It's turned into one of those projects that puts me at a convergence among cost,benefit and system life expectancy.
I think my solution is probably going to be i5 with lots of RAM. It should speed up rendering on the big PDFs that architects send me, too. I'm still open to lots of learning and advice, so keep commenting.

Many i5's are actually the last generation of i7 slightly detuned (probably chips which were not stable at the higher specs, it's more cost effective to sell them than destroy), I'm running an ancient i7 (is 6 years ancient?) which about a year or two after it was released was rereleased as an i5 with half the threads disabled and maximum boost detuned.

.....Onboard video is fine for most users. Some operations in PS can be accelerated by video cards but I don't think it's worth it for most users, especially not before upgrading the other components.....

Click to expand...

PS and Lightroom can use GPU, not sure if Acrobat does. But when building a new system adding about $100 for something like a GTX 750 Ti isn't a bad idea.

I'm already using SSD, a Kingston HyperX 3K 240GB. So much faster than spinning drives. The tech at NCIX recommended a Gigabyte Z97X Gaming5 board and i5 4690 CPU.

Click to expand...

The Gigabyte Z97X is a gaming mobo that supports overclocking. But that CPU does not. If you're going for that mobo add the little extra for a "K" cpu and cooler (even something as simple as the Cooler Master Hyper 212). If not, save on the mobo. Getting over $100 - $125 US for a mobo I need to see something on the board I want (extra SATA ports, bluetooth, etc)

I need a motherboard that supports i5, has lots of USB3 and SATA outputs and gives me a video output of 2560 x 1440. If I'm springing for the hardware it needs to speed up image processing compared to my 1st generation i3 and also needs to be really reliable.
I like the Coolermaster Hyper 212 cooler! If it's quiet, I may eventually get one.

Speaking of buying last year's model as a good value, does AMD still deliver a good bang for the pesos?

Click to expand...

I find generally no due to the cooling required to get the same performance as an equivalent Intel (Mind you this is in Australia, if you're in the Northern hemisphere/*heavily* air-conditioned office it's probably less of an issue).

While it's always best to buy the fastest computer/processor you feel comfortable with in terms of budget, IMO, i7 is overkill for LR6 and OV3. My advice would be to go with an i5 processor and spend the rest on getting a minimum of 16GB RAM (cheap) and if you have money left over, then an SSD for your home/root drive that has the OS on it.

While I'm a Mac person, both of my 27" iMacs are i5 (2.7GHz & 2.66GHz) and both are plenty fast for running LR6, Alien Skin Exposure 7, Perfect Effects 9.5, Safari, Mail, Pages, iTunes, Audirvana Plus and Kodi/XBMC open at the same time.

I am running two PC's side by side while sharing the monitor/keyboard/mouse - one is an Intel [email protected] and the other is an [email protected] I'm using 8GB of RAM with the i3 system and 16GB with the i5 system. Both running Win7x64

Thanks to everyone for your assistance. I've learned a lot about processors in a very short time and realize I'm never going to be any kind of expert with computer software or hardware.
I'm going to bite the bullet (when I can afford to have my PC down for a few days) and get the i5 motherboard, chipset and a pile of RAM in the hope that it will stand me in good stead for the next decade. I can't see that I'll need a monitor better than what I just acquired; 4K is ridiculous for something this close to me. I'll also be sticking with Win 7 64 for as long as possible due to the unstoppable data leakage from Win 10.

Nope, it is fantastic! I have a 5K iMac and I will never purchase a non-4K/5K monitor again. Seeing hi-res photographs on 4K/5K monitor is game changing.

Click to expand...

Interesting, I never considered that I would need anything bigger than what I just bought. I see the 4K displays in BB and other places, but have never been attracted to them for home use.
My monitor is something I consider as an intermediate step to printing, so extremely high resolution hasn't been a concern. Thanks for the comment.

Links in this page may be to our affiliates. Sales through affiliate links may benefit this site. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.